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With blessings, games, and festive foods Hanukkah celebrates the triumph both religious and military of ancient Jewish heroes.

A bit of History

Nearly 2,200 years ago the Greek-Syrian ruler Antiochus IV tried to force Greek culture upon peoples in his territory and outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jewish to worship Greek gods. Jews in Judea - now Israel - were forbidden their most important religious practices as well as study of the Torah.

Although vastly outnumbered, Jews in the region took up arms to protect their community, their religion and culture. Led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and later his son Judah the Maccabee the rebel armies became known as the Maccabees.

Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy Temple and were saddened that many things were missing or broken - including the golden Menorah.

They cleaned and repaired the Temple, and when they were finished they decided to have a big dedication ceremony. For the celebration the Maccabess wanted to light the Menorah. They looked everywhere for oil and found a small flask that contained only enough oil to light the Menorah for one day. Miraculously the oil lasted for eight days. This gave them enough time to obtain new oil to keep the Menorah lit.

Celebration of Hanukkah

Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting candles in a Menorah every night, thus commemorating the eight day miracle. In commemoration of Hanukkah's miracles a Hanukkah Menorah is lit during each of the eight nights of Hanukka.

Lighting the Hanukkah Menorah is the central part of the holiday. One candle is lit the first night, and an additional candle in each successive night.

While lighting the candles blessings are recited and the ancient chants are traditionaly sung. Hanerot Halalu - Maoz tzur...Nerotai Hazeirim

After lighting the Hanukkiah families will eat and play games.

Traditional Hanukkah food is oil rich in commemoration of the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days. Potato latkes are a Hanukkah favorite.

Sufganyot are jelly doughnuts that are dropped into hot oil and come out in odd forms. They are covered with powdered sugar. They are particular popular in Israel.

The Hanukkah Menorah (Hebrew:menorah) (also Hebrew: Hanukiah, or Chanukkiyah, hanukiyot, or Yiddish: khanike lomp, Lit: Chanukah lamp) is an eight-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah.

The ninth holder, called the shamash ("helper or servant"), is for a candle used to light all other candles. It is among the most widely produced articles of Jewish ceremonial art.

The Dreidel

A dreidel (also spelled dreidl or draydel) is a four sided spinning top with a different Hebrew letter on each side. The game of dreidel is traditionally played during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Some people maintain that the dreidel game goes back to the time of the Greek-Syrians, and thus is integrally connected to the Hanukkah holiday. Since the Greek-Syrians prohibited the Jews from studying Torah, the Jews needed a way to hide their Torah learning. They used the dreidel as a decoy. When they saw the Greek-Syrians coming, the Jews would hide their books, take out their dreidels, and trick the Syrians into thinking they were just playing a game.

While the above story is a wonderful way to link the holiday's history to its modern celebration, the true source of the game is probably European.

In Europe, a gambling game with a spinning top has been played for centuries by various people in various languages. In England and Ireland, the game of totum or teetotum, first mentioned in approximately 1500, was especially popular at Christmas time. The Germans also liked to play a gambling game with a spinning top.

It is believed that the Jewish game of dreidel is a Judaicized version of the German gambling game. The Yiddish word dreidel derived from the German word drehen, which means "to spin."

The letters on the faces of the gambling toy, which were mnemonic for the rules of the game, varied in each nation. The letters on the English spinning top were: T for Take, H for Half, P for Put, N for None.

In an effort to link the game to the celebration of Hanukkah, the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, hay and shin were said to stand for the phrase Nes Gadol Haya Sham, which means "a great miracle happened there."With the birth of Israel and the revival of the Hebrew language, Israelis called the dreidel a sevivon. Sevivon comes from the Hebrew word sovev which means "to turn."

The game of the Dreidel

To play the game of dreidel, two to four players each get a handful of pennies or chocolate money called gelt. The remainder of the pot is left in the middle. The youngest players spins the dreidel and depending on what letter the top lands on, he or she will:

NUN - Lose his turn, the top passes to the next player.

GIMEL - Win all the pot.

HEY - Win half the pot

SHIN (or PEH) - Lose all of his coins

The dreidel -- or Sivivon in Hebrew, from the verb to spin -- continues to be passed around the circle until one player has won everyone's coins. The word dreidel comes from a Yiddish word meaning to turn.

Enjoy Hanukkah Songs

Doughnuts for Hanukkah

42 doughnuts (change servings and units)

Ingredients

* 1 1/4 cups slightly warm water or slightly warm milk

* 1 tablespoon yeast

* 6 tablespoons sugar

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 1/4 cup canola oil

* 2 egg yolks

* 1 egg

* 1 teaspoon vanilla

* 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

* 3 1/2-4 cups unbleached all purpose flour (or half all-purpose and half bread flour)

* fine sugar or sugar (for coating donuts)

* 1 1/2 cups raspberry jelly (optional) or raspberry jam (optional) or apricot jam (optional) or apricot jam (optional)

* oil

* shortening (three parts oil and one part melted shortening for frying, to fill up a good two-thirds of fryer)

Directions

1.Whisk together the yeast, water and sugar, salt, oil, egg yolks, egg, vanilla and lemon extract.

2.Blend well and stir in most of the flour to form a soft dough.

3.Knead by hand, machine or in bread machine (dough setting), adding flour as needed.

4.The dough should have some body, not too slack, supple, smooth and elastic.

5. Place in a greased plastic bag and refrigerate at least 2 to 4 hours or overnight.

6.If you are in a hurry, allow dough to rest at least 20 minutes, then proceed.

7. If dough has risen at all, punch or flatten down, then pinch off pieces and form into small balls, about the size of golf balls

8.Otherwise, roll dough out to about three-quarters of an inch.

9.Using a two and half inch or three inch biscuit cutter, cut out rounds

10. Cover and let sit 15 minutes while heating oil.

11.In a deep fryer, or heavy dutch oven, heat about four inches of oil or a combination of oil and melted shortening.

12.Add the doughnuts to the hot oil (temperature should be about 375 F.) and fry until the undersides are deep brown.

13.Turn over once and finish frying the other side.

14.Lift doughnuts out using a slotted spoon and drain well on paper towels.

15.To fill, make a small opening and spoon in jam or jelly, or just sprinkle lightly with regular or extra fine granulated sugar by shaking doughnuts in a paper bag.

16.Test oil temperature: It's a good idea to try frying one doughnut to start with.

17.Doughnut seems done, take it out and cut it open to see if the inside is cooked.

Hanukkah gifts